


Photography Club

by maytheday



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Dan Howell and Phil Lester Are Not YouTubers, Fluff, High School, M/M, Photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26020492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maytheday/pseuds/maytheday
Summary: The only reason Dan joined the photography club was so he could talk to Phil.
Relationships: Dan Howell & Phil Lester, Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Photography Club

**Author's Note:**

> this work is based off of this (https://www.instagram.com/p/CD-oENwA2Rs/?igshid=1656i00qd0g25) post, the idea belongs to her lol. also, i really love her account, her posts are hilarious, so follow her if you feel.
> 
> thanks for clicking! leave kudos or a comment, it'd make my day :D

“Oh my gosh, is that him?” Elena pointed at the boy.

“No! Don’t point at him!” Dan grabbed her hand and shoved it into her lap, trying to cover his face so the boy couldn’t see. She gasped.

“You’re blushing! You should go talk to him.” She said.

“No way! I couldn’t.” He pressed the sleeves of his hoodie to his cheeks. 

“Oh, fine.” They watched, discreetly, as the boy and his friend stapled a poster to the hallway bulletin and walked away.

“So…?” Elena raised her eyebrows at him and smirked. Dan sighed.

“His name is Phil, we have Algebra II together.” Dan’s cheeks still felt hot. He ran his cold fingers through his brown curly hair. “He’s a senior, and we have literally not spoken once. Unless you count me fumbling and dropping my pen when we accidently made eye contact and- ah! - when we both went for it, our fingers touched.” Dan buried his face in his hands again.

“Daniel, that is absolutely adorable.” Elena said.

“No, it’s horrible! I have a problem. Don’t I.” 

“Yeah, you have a little bit of a problem.”

Dan eyed the bulletin.

“C’mon, I want to see what they put there.” Dan stood up

“Go by yourself!” Elena pulled a carrot stick from a plastic sandwich bad.

“No, I don’t want to look awkward, come on!” He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her onto her feet. She groaned.

“You’re insufferable.”

It turns out, the poster was for a photography club. The first meeting was this Thursday afternoon, in room S108, which was the art classroom.

Dan was studying the poster. He was free on Thursdays….

“Dan, are you…?” Elena began.

“Yep, I’m considering going.” He said.

“You don’t know anything about photography.”

“I’m interested!”

“Bad selfies and photos of your dog can’t count.”

“But I’d get to see Phil.”

“Good point.” They walked back to their seats.

“Alright,” Elena said, “I think you should do it.”

“Yeah? I think I might.” Dan chuckled and shook his head. “Would you come with me?”

“Ha ha, no. I have to tutor after school on Thursdays.” She said, crunching down on another carrot. It made a satisfying crunch.

“That’s right.” Dan said. “I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

After two more days of sneaking glances at the side of Phil’s head in math class, getting lost in his blue eyes and distracted by his perfect lips, he decided he had to talk to this guy. Even if that meant feigning interest in photography.

So, that’s how he ended up in the art classroom with half a dozen other awkward kids. Phil was sitting on the teacher’s (Mrs. Lister’s) desk, talking and laughing with her. Dan was trying not to look at Phil’s tight skinny jeans. He did notice his bright mismatched socks and suddenly felt his crush get worse. 

After if became clear that these seven kids were going to be all that came, Phil got up from the desk and looked at the group.

“Hey guys! Welcome to the Photography Club! The school doesn’t offer a photography class but, until they do, we can learn and hone our skills here! And I hope maybe to make a few new friends.” He smiled a devastatingly cute smile where the skin behind his eyes crinkled. And then he made eye contact with Dan, who blushed a furious red and suddenly became very interested with the marks on the table.

“Alright, so,” Phil said, “Let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves? I’ll go first. I’m Phil Lester, I’m a senior. I’ve been doing photography for six years and… that’s it.” He laughed. Fuck, it was such a beautiful laugh. “Uh, Sophie, you go next.” He gestured to a blue haired Asian girl that Dan recognized as the friend who was helping Phil put up posters.

Then eventually, it was Dan’s turn.

“Um, alright I guess it’s me next, then.” He said under his breath. He could hear his heart pounding in his throat, and he was feeling just a bit lightheaded. Just public speaking things. “Uh, I’m Daniel Howell, or just Dan. I’m a junior.” And he left it at that.

“We have math together,” Phil said, smiling. Dan hoped he wasn’t blushing.

“Yeah, we do.” Dan shyly smiled back.

“Just for today, Mrs. Lister and I decided we’d just talk about what we sort of have planned for this club, the ‘syllabus’” – He did air quotes with his fingers. – “I dunno why I did that, and if we have some time left over, it’ll just be study time, basically.”

Him and the teacher pulled up a brightly colored power point, which animal gifs on each slide, to explain what they’d be learning.

To be completely honest, Dan could hardly pay attention to what either of them were saying. He’d just look at Phil and suddenly everything else blurred and all Dan was thinking about was what it might feel like to run his hand through that black quiff. Until he realized such thoughts weren’t appropriate in this setting and tried to focus on the presentation again.

They did end up with some leftover time, so Dan leaned over to pull out his algebra II homework from his backpack. It would be helpful to get a little done. Maybe he’d be motivated to actually do the assignment rather than procrastinate it until three in the morning.

“Hey!” Oh my god it was Phil. He had pulled out the chair next to Dan and was sitting in it. Sitting next to Dan. And also talking to him. “Do you wanna work on the homework together?”

Do you wanna get together?

“Uh, yeah! I think there’s room at the table for you.” Dan smiled, still hoping his face wasn’t bright red. Phil giggled. The sound sent pumps of serotonin into Dan’s veins.

“Wonderful. I can barely do math, it’s my worst subject,” Phil confessed. Dan laughed.

“I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to help you, to be completely honest.” He said. They turned to the piece of homework and tried the first problem.

“Yeah, I think this can wait,” Phil said, “What are some of the best photos you’ve taken?”

“Me? Honestly, the only photography I do is pictures of my dog,” Dan said.

“Oh my god, show them to me right now.” Phil’s face was serious. Dan laughed.

“Yeah? Okay.” He pulled out his phone and pulled up the folder filled with pictures of his dog.

“Oh my god, he’s so cute. What’s name?” Phil asked.

“Colin.” Dan said, watching the way Phil’s face lit up at the sight of the pictures.

“I want to pet him so bad!” Phil exclaimed.

“I’ll make sure to give him extra pets when I get home today,” Dan promised. “Say, do you have maybe an instragram or something, that you post to?”

“Yeah! I have an instragram,” Phil said.

“Can I get it?”

“Oh! Right, of course. It’s ‘@AmazingPhil’, first letter of each word capitalized.” Dan was typing in the name. There he was! His profile picture was a photo of himself, just being cute.

“And, following.” Dan smiled at Phil. Phil smiled back. Then Dan checked the time. “Oh, I should probably leave. My mom will be expecting me home.”

“Oh, alright! Will I see you next week?” Phil asked.

“Yeah, let’s hope so.”

Later, Dan opened Instagram and scrolled through Phil’s profile. All the way to the bottom. He was actually a pretty good photographer. Most of his older pictures were shots of flowers or sunlight through the branches of a tree. Somewhere around eighth grade, he’d learned about photoshop and was creating these artistic fade-in pictures of man’s face and a mountain, or a perspective picture of his friend smelling what appeared to be a massive tulip. Of course, Dan made sure not to like any posts, so it didn’t look like he was stalking.

Then he sent Phil a dm.

Dan: Ill be honest

Dan: I didnt go to the club meeting bc Im interested in photography, I went bc Im interested in you

Did he really just send that? Yes, he did. Shit, he didn’t think about this. What if he’d been reading all the signals wrong? What if Phil was straight? Oh my god, he’s typing.

Phil: really? Cuz I’m interested in you too

Dan: really??

Phil: Yeah!! Do you wanna hang out sometime??

Dan: Like… a date hang out??

Phil: Yeah?

Dan: Yes!!


End file.
